Plentifully

God does not need to receive anything from me.  But I need to give everything to Him.

Loaves and Fish (John August Swanson)

I have prayed for my children as my mother has prayed for me and her mother prayed for her.  I have prayed many things for them.  I have prayed that they will be good people and live good lives.  I have prayed that they will not try my patience quite so much and listen to the advice that I give to them.  I have prayed that they will be safe and healthy and mix with the right people.  I have prayed that they will avoid sin and practice their faith.  I have prayed that they love God and Worship Him all their lives.

The other day I was speaking to a very dear friend of mine about her children.  She told me that she was worried that if she died young that her children would not be raised as good Catholics because she would not be there to raise them herself.

And I reminded hr what I have always reminded myself…  And that is – as much as we as parents love our children, God loves them MORE.  And that means that if we die, then God Himself will care for our children.  In fact, God Himself is caring for our children even now while we live, it is simply that He is entrusting them to our care, not that He actually needs us to raise their souls to holiness.

I have only to think of the example of Saint Carlo Acutis…  That young Saint brought his parents to God.  It was through his example of faith that his mother converted to the faith and practiced her religion fervently.  Perhaps his birth was the catalyst she needed to be saved?  Perhaps in that case, it was the child who raised the mother and it was the mother who needed the child?

Saint Augustine was a child who needed his mother’s prayers for his salvation.  This Saint boasted that he had committed every single sin.  And yet, in “The Confessions”, following his conversion, Saint Augustine wrote, “And Thou sent Thine hand from above, and drew my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heard her, O Lord; Thou heard her, and despised not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heard her.”

There is a darkness that can overwhelm all of us.  And that darkness is a temptation to believe in our own power over the Infinite Power of God.  And when we think about the power of God it is important to realise that God is able to control all things.  If I died tomorrow, then that is because my death at that time and place would result in the best possible ETERNAL outcome for myself and my children and perhaps for a million billion other souls.

Understanding that with my mind, and feeling that with my heart, is my entire mission on this Earth.  And THAT is what it means to trust in God – even despite the darkness that I sometime might feel…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.